Explanation and Examples of Transaction Control Functionality in Projects

Overview

In the Projects Screen you set up transaction controls either at the project level or at the task level (Tasks -> Options -> Transaction controls). Task level controls override project level controls.

The Limit to Transaction Controls checkbox determines whether your transaction controls are exclusive or inclusive.

• Checked = Inclusive: Anything not listed is not chargeable
• Unchecked = Exclusive: Anything not listed is chargeable.

Within either type of transaction control, you can indicate whether a listed type of transaction is chargeable or not by checking or not checking the chargeable checkbox; however, generally for inclusive controls you will check the chargeable checkbox because you are listing the chargeable transactions, and conversely, for an exclusive control you will generally not check the chargeable box because you are listing the types of transactions that cannot be entered. Generally you will only reverse this option when you want to specify a specific exclusion or inclusion to a more general control line (e.g., all Labor transactions should be included except for a single expenditure type).

Examples of transaction controls:

Example 1

On the transaction control screen "Limit to Transaction Controls" = Checked

In the expenditure section you have the following defined:

LINE 1: Category="Labor" Employee="Marlin, Amy" Chargeable=checked
LINE 2: Category="Labor" Employee="Gray, Donald" Chargeable=checked

This would mean:

• Marlin and Gray can charge only labor.
• Other employees and types of charges are not allowed.

Example 2

On the transaction control screen "Limit to Transaction Controls" = Checked.

In the expenditure section you have the following defined:

LINE 1: Employee="Marlin, Amy" Chargeable=checked
LINE 2: Employee="Gray, Donald" Chargeable=checked
LINE 3: Category="Other Expense" Type="Entertainment" Chargeable=not checked

This would mean:

• Marlin and Gray can charge all types of transactions, except for Entertainment.
• No other employee can charge anything.

Example 3

On the transaction control screen "Limit to Transaction Controls" = NOT Checked.

In the expenditure section you have the following defined:

LINE 1: Employee="Marlin, Amy" Chargeable=checked
LINE 2: Employee="Gray, Donald" Chargeable=not checked
LINE 3: Category="Other Expense" Chargeable=not checked.

This would mean:

• Amy Marlin can charge all types of transactions.
• Gray can not charge anything.
• All other employees can charge everything except expenses.

Precedence Rules

The examples above illustrate that is is not always easy to determine the behavior when there are multiple rules that apply to a transaction.  For example in example 3, LINE 1 would allow all transactions to Amy Marlin, but LINE 3 prohibits all "Other Expenses" charges.  As we indicated in the results, in this case, LINE 1 takes precedence.

However, in example 2, we can see that in a similar situation with "Limit to Transaction Controls" checked it is LINE 3 that takes precedence.  The following table illustrates the results of testing each of the combinations that may come in conflict.

In the table, it is assumed that:

• If an item (for example, Exp Type) is populated in both the chargeable line (line 1) and the non-chargeable line (line 2) then the value for that item is the same in both lines
• The transaction we are trying to create matches all of the populated values (so that both lines are applicable to the transaction)

Limit to Txn	Line 1 - Chargeable	Line 2 - NON-Chargeable	Chargeable?
Yes	Employee	Employee AND Exp Category	No
Yes	Employee	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
Yes	Employee	Exp Category	No
Yes	Employee	Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
Yes	Employee AND Exp Category	Employee	Yes
Yes	Employee AND Exp Category	Employee AND Exp Cateogry AND Exp Type	No
Yes	Employee AND Exp Category	Exp Category	Yes
Yes	Employee AND Exp Category	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Yes
Yes	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee	Yes
Yes	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee AND Expenditure Category	Yes
Yes	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	Exp Category	Yes
Yes	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Yes
Yes	Exp Category	Employee	No
Yes	Exp Category	Employee AND Exp Category	No
Yes	Exp Category	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
Yes	Exp Category	Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
Yes	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee	No
Yes	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee AND Exp Category	No
Yes	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
Yes	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Exp Category	Yes
No	Employee	Employee AND Exp Category	No
No	Employee	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
No	Employee	Exp Category	Yes
No	Employee	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Yes
No	Employee AND Exp Category	Employee	Yes
No	Employee AND Exp Category	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
No	Employee AND Exp Category	Exp Category	Yes
No	Employee AND Exp Category	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Yes
No	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee	Yes
No	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee AND Exp Category	Yes
No	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	Exp Cateogry	Yes
No	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Yes
No	Exp Category	Employee	No
No	Exp Category	Employee AND Exp Category	No
No	Exp Category	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
No	Exp Category	Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
No	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee	No
No	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee AND Exp Category	No
No	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Employee AND Exp Category AND Exp Type	No
No	Exp Category AND Exp Type	Exp Category	Yes

Note: The results in this table were validated in both Release 12.0 and 12.1.

It is difficult to lay out a single simple rule for the precedence results, however, here are a few points we can highlight:

1. If transaction control has all of the same values as another control PLUS additional values, then it's chargeable flag will take precedence on transactions to which they both apply.   So a line with Employee = Amy Marlin AND Expenditure Category = Labor will take precedence on transactions to which it applies over a line which just specifies the Expenditure Category = Labor.  This rule will cover the majority of cases where there are two or more rules which apply to the same transaction.

2. In cases where rule #1 does not apply (i.e., one line does not contain all the values of the other plus additional details), then in almost all cases, the line with an employee assigned will take precedence.  The only exception is when

·          

• "Limit to Transaction Controls" is checked
• Only the Employee is assigned on the Chargeable control line
• Expenditure Category (and optionally Expenditure Type) are assigned on the NON-Chargeable control line

In this case the non-chargeable line takes precedence over the line with the employee assigned.